Integrated Arts: workshop – art development in children throughout the years.
Art: We started by doodling during our lecture. We were given readings and were told to highlight important parts, without actually highlighting. We were given the freedom to draw over the words, whatever came to our minds. As a class, we then discussed what we had drawn and where the ideas came from. In the workshop, there were 3 tables filled with children’s art work from over many years. This was really helpful as we could see the improvements from early years to Primary 6/7. Each piece of work had a different story and you could tell they were all from different eras.
There are 4 main stages in child development in art (Lowenfeld and Brittain’s (1987)):
– 2 to 4 years // Identified scribbling stage.
Pictures are just marks on the page. Done for own enjoyment. Freedom to do whatever they wish.
– 4 to 7 years // Pre-schematic stage.
The world around the child is starting to take form in their pictures. Art work begins to become clear and has evolved from memories.
– 7 to 9 years // Schematic stage.
Children have a better sense of space in their drawings. Children now begin to judge and improve their art work.
– 9 to 12 years // Gang stage.
This is when children begin to copy art work of others, rather than letting their own creative ideas flow. At this stage, children have a lack of faith in themselves and their art work.
When looking at the art work in this workshop, you could clearly see the stages present in the art. The younger years art work was colourful and messy. There was a lot of paint used and colourful paper. This is most likely due to high levels of creativity and the imagination being at its best. In the middle years, there was a variety of colours and tones used. At this stage, the pictures began looking less like an imagination and more like a copied work, maybe from a teachers idea. At the upper years, the art work was very detailed and all pictures were similar from buildings to landscapes. This showed the lack of imagination for themselves. However, you could clearly tell there was an awareness of detail and filling up space.
I believe the early years are highly important as children are using their own ideas and seeing that art is actually fun. It also shows that it’s okay to be messy in art! Children can use their own ideas, rather than producing a copy. Looking at this art achieve was a helpful task as I now know to allow older pupils more freedom in what they create in Art, rather than restricting the creativity which should be there.
** I have the freedom to discover and choose ways to create images and objects
using a variety of materials.
EXA 0-02a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.61)
Reflection
Art: Looking at the different stages of children’s artwork proved that as children develop and grow older, their art work becomes less creative and more of a copy. Children go through 4 stages of artistic development which have been listed previously. These stages showed that even though children were maturing in their art, they were losing the main focus, which is creativity. Young children in their art, draw lines and squiggles but could tell you exactly what their art work is supposed to be/represent. Whereas, older children are focusing on details and most likely, trying to reproduce a copy of art work which has been previously shown to them. The older children most likely do this due to being less confident in their own abilities. In this workshop, I have developed my own analysis skills. Analysing children’s art work and trying to guess what it actually is, is quite difficult. Hence, teachers should take note of what the art work is of. “Creativity is a process which generates ideas that have value to the individual” (Education Scotland, 2013, p.3). Teachers need to allow children to express themselves in Art lessons, rather than producing something for children to copy. Looking at the art achieve from a teachers point of view, showed me to be interested in the art work pupils are producing. Question the pupils, and take a note on the back of the work, what it is, what age the pupil was and the pupils name. Being interested will influence the child’s contribution and involvement. Giving children the chances to be creative in the classroom will give them a better view of the Arts. Allowing Arts in the classroom will increase the confidence of pupils and allow them to engage in all activities.
References
Education Scotland (2013) Creativity Across Learning 3-18 [Module Resource] Available: Integrated Arts in Education module on Moodle. [Accessed: 11-12 December 2017].
Lowenfeld, V. and Brittain, L. (1987) Creative and Mental Growth. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River N.J.:Prentice Hall.
Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence [online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf [Accessed: 18 December 2017]
